Blasphemy Rights day or Blasphemy day in short, is very near (September 30th). This day is dedicated to those who are systematically being persecuted, harassed, or killed for their simple expression of Freethought (more precisely, for their ‘blasphemous’ views towards religion). I wrote a small piece last year (see here).

This year I was thinking to write something on ‘The Virus of Faith’. An abridged version of this article has been accepted for a New York-based freethinking magazine recently.

Please feel free to comment.

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It all started with a book.

A national book fair (popularly known as Ekushey Book Fair) is held every February in Bangladesh. Newly published books are displayed in more than five hundred stalls. Literally thousands of people come to the fair every day and enjoy buying new books. Publishers target this month quite early as they try to get their books ready for the frenzy of the fair. One of my recent publishers Jagriti Prakashani published my book Biswasher Virus (Bengali for The Virus of Faith) [FB Page | Blog] during the Book Fair of 2014.

As soon as the book was released, it rose to the Book Fair’s bestseller list. At the same time, it hit the cranial nerve of fundamentalists. The death threats started flowing to my inbox on a regular basis. I suddenly found myself to be a target of militant Islamists and terrorists. A well-known extremist by the name of Farabi Shafiur Rahman (to know about this crazy guy read this Bangla piece) openly issued death threats to me through his numerous Facebook statuses. In one of his widely-circulated statuses Farabi wrote, “Avijit Roy lives in America and so, it is not possible to kill him right now. But he will be murdered when he comes back.”[1]

But let’s put Farabi aside for a moment as I provide readers with a bit of background information about the book. I knew there was a growing demand for Biswasher Virus way before it appeared in the market. It started when I wrote a few blogs at Mukto-Mona (a website of freethinkers of mainly Bengali descent) on this particular topic. Due to faith-based politics, a lot had happened in Bangladesh in the last year, some of which I attempted to cover in my writings. When several bloggers were put behind bars last year for being openly atheist, I published few articles including the one in eSkeptic (The Struggle of Bangladeshi Bloggers)[2] and one in Free Inquiry(Freethought Under Attack in Bangladesh),[3]. I also covered other incidents during the Shahbag Movement, such as when the atheist bloggers, including Ahmed Rajib Haider and Asif Mohiuddin, were brutally attacked by fundamentalists. Asif was seriously wounded but luckily survived through a murder attempt in Dhaka on January 14th; on the other hand, Rajib Haider was found hacked to death in a Dhaka street a month later. I found a commonality in each of these writings: the ‘virus of faith’ was the weapon that made these atrocities possible.

Another interesting case concerns Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a Bengali student who came to the United States with a student visa in order to wage Islamic jihad. Nafis was arrested in 2012 by the FBI in a ‘sting operation’ after attempting to set off a fake car bomb outside the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan. He was eventually sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to terrorism. In my book I tried to analyze an afterlife-obsessed, terrorist brain like Nafis’s that can put our civilization in immense danger. Nafis’s deep faith in a holy text, and his belief in afterlife-rewards, led him in his Jihadi mission against the ‘infidels’; this behavior can easily be compared to an act of a virus.

Fig: The cover page of Bengali book Biswasher Virus

Let me be fair. When I state that certain religious acts are viruses, I certainly do not ignore religion’s evolutionary origin. After all, religion is a product of the complex biological and cognitive processes that are deeply rooted in our evolutionary past. Perhaps, as David Sloan Wilson proposes, religion has survived by a form of group selection[4]. Or maybe, as Richard Dawkins points out in his God Delusion, religion is an ‘accidental by-product – a misfiring of something useful’[5]. No matter whether it is accidental or not, religion has indeed its mark on our evolutionary path. But that does not automatically make religion true – or even relevant – in today’s world. Michael Shermer explained in his book, The Believing Brain, that humans perhaps are ‘pattern-seeking story-telling animals.’ Yes, this skill probably provided us with survival advantages in the past, but it does not justify the ‘discovery’ of Virgin Mary’s face in clouds, Hindu symbol of ‘Omm’ on cows, a human face on Mars, or the glorious name of ‘Allah’ on the waves of a tsunami[6]. Rape, for example, also developed as a biological phenomenon. Some researchers indicate that human males may have evolved specialized psychological mechanisms for forcing sex on unwilling women as a reproductive strategy[7]. This may be true for ‘murder’ as well[8]. However, people do not defend rape or murder today just because these acts may have given our ancestors evolutionary advantages. In fact, when incidents of rape and murder increase at an alarming rate in a society – as in the case of Delhi one year ago, people declare an ‘epidemic,’ as they call for remedies[9].

Perhaps this is true for religion as well. Sam Harris, author of best-selling The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation, writes, ‘That religion may have served some necessary functions for us in the past does not preclude the possibility that it is now the greatest impediment to our building a global civilization.’[10] But is it only now that religion is an impediment to the building of our modern society? Religion has been used all throughout history to justify war, slavery, sexism, rape, racism, homophobia, polygamy, mutilation, intolerance, and oppression of minorities; killing in the name of God has endured through the ages. The ancient history of Sumerians, Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs reveal ritualistic killings of fellow human beings to gratify each civilization’s invisible gods and goddesses[11]. In many cultures, children were buried alive beneath the foundations of newly built structures to ensure the structures would be robust. Other cultures repeatedly sacrificed virgins or first-born children in an effort to overcome natural disasters and climatic tragedies. In India, Hindu widows were once burned alive so that they could serve their recently deceased husbands into the next world. Even in the West, around two million women were tortured and burned into confessing that they were witches. And let’s not forget the millions who have died in holy Crusades, Jihads, and the war between Protestants and Catholics produced the largest religious death toll of all time[12].

Let’s call a spade a spade. These atrocities are the products of virus-infected minds. On September 11th, 2001, Americans experienced an atrocity in their own land that killed almost 3,000 people and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage. It was, of course, the virus of religion that persuaded Mohamed Atta and eighteen others that perpetrating this bloodbath was ‘not just a moral act, but also a sacred duty.’[13]

Nafis and Mohamed Atta’s cases are not isolated acts of the religion virus. Rev. Michael Bray, the American minister who was convicted of a series of abortion clinic attacks in the eighties, used Biblical verses to defend his act of terrorism[14]. In 1992, Hindu fanatics destroyed Babri Masjid, one of the largest and oldest mosques in Uttar Pradesh of India, based on a religious myth called ‘Ram Janmabhoomi.’[15] The incident ignited riots in India and its neighboring countries. As I am writing this article, ISIS – one of the most infamous extremist groups – is still torturing minorities and beheading American journalists in the name of Allah. These are only a few examples of ‘the viruses of faiths’, and they’re happening all around us.

Fig: Number of authors have suggested recently that religion acts as virus

I don’t claim to have come up with any new or novel concept in Biswasher Virus. The concept was already there. Those who are familiar with Richard Dawkins’ revolutionary idea of Meme (a concept introduced in his 1976 magnum opus The Selfish Gene[16]) are acquainted with the viral metaphor of religious meme. Based on this idea, numerous authors suggested the religion memeplex can behave like a ‘biological virus’ acting in a living organism. Computer scientist Craig James (author of The Religion Virus[17]) and psychologist Darrel W. Ray (author of The God Virus[18]) independently proposed that the ‘religion meme’ can be viewed as virus. Philosopher Daniel Dennett (author of Breaking the Spell[19]) suggested that religions exhibit behavioral control among people in the same way that parasites invade organisms. For example, the rabies virus infects very specific neurons in the brain of a mammalian host, later inducing the host to bite or attack others. Lancet Fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum), a parasite, infects the brain of ants by taking the control and thus driving them to climb to the top of the blade of the grass where they can be eaten by a cow. Another parasitic hairworm, scientifically known as Spinochordodes tellinii, infects grasshoppers’ brains in a way that makes grasshoppers more likely to jump into water and commit suicide.

Don’t we see similar occurrences in our human society? Take the horrifying videos of hostage beheadings by ISIS as an example. Regardless, President Obama has made it abundantly clear that the United States is not at war with Islam. On laying out a strategy for dealing with the Islamic State (ISIS, or, alternatively, ISIL), Obama uttered[20],

‘Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. … ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple’.

‘ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, and for what they do every single day’.

Whatever the motivation behind President Obama’s statements – whether it is simple strategy or so-called ‘political correctness’ – there is very little doubt that ISIS speaks exactly for Islam. ISIS is when the virus of faith is taken into action and the outbreak becomes an epidemic. The Quran clearly states, ‘when ye meet the unbelievers (in fight), strike off their heads’ (Q. 47:4), ‘smite ye above their necks’ (Q. 8:12) and ‘kill them wherever you find them’ (Q. 2:191) etc. According to the early biography of Prophet Muhammad by Ibn Ishaq, Prophet Muhammad himself sanctioned the merciless massacre of the Banu Qurayza, a vanquished Jewish tribe. Some 600 to 900 men from the Qurayza were lead on Muhammad’s orders to the Market of Medina. Trenches were dug and those men were beheaded with swords, their decapitated corpses buried in the trenches in presence of the prophet[22]. Even Karen Armstrong – who has become immensely popular among Muslim apologists for ‘correcting western misconception’ about Islam – was so disgusted that she compared Muhammad’s massacre to the Nazi atrocities of the Jews[23]. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of holy Islam, still utilizes public beheading as a form of capital punishment for crimes including ‘apostasy’. When a person is convicted, he is taken to the square, and he is bound to kneel in front of the executioner. The executioner uses a sword to remove the criminal’s head from his body at the neck, following Islamic Sharia law.

Fig: Isis beheading United States journalist, James Foley

ISIS is merely following the tradition that its holy prophet established fourteen hundred years ago. We know the stories of Daniel Pearl, Nich Berg, Kim Sun II, and Paul Johnson, who were captured time to time by the soldiers of Allah and then beheaded. We were bound to watch the same unfortunate fate for American journalists James Folley and Steven Sotloff, as well as British aid worker David Haines. ISIS’s cruel way of killing infidels is indeed sanctioned by holy texts and Islamic Sharia laws. Biologist Jerry Coyne is absolutely right in his statement – ‘If ISIS is not Islamic, then the Inquisition was not Catholic either.’[24]

While I am writing this piece, the US and allies have decided to go for air strike on ISIS, but at the same time the American president has made a vow to avoid criticizing religion at all costs—particularly Islam. His attitude is most likely to cut a nearby branch, but keeping the poisonous tree alive. Such an attitude is nothing new from the US presidents. Coming just after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, President Bush famously proclaimed that Islam was a “religion of peace.” However, a rational scrutiny can show hundreds of verses in the Quran, which, by any standard are not ‘peaceful’ but inhuman, parochial, and dangerously viral. For example, the Quran tells believers to: ‘not to make friends with Jews and Christians’ (Q. 5:51); fight them ‘until they pay the Jizya (a penalty tax for the non-Muslims living under Islamic rules) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued’ (Q. 9:29); ‘kill the disbelievers wherever we find them’ (Q. 2:191); ‘murder them and treat them harshly’ (Q. 9:123); ‘fight and slay the non-believers, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem’ (Q. 9:5); ‘fight the unbelievers until no other religion except Islam is left’ (Q. 2:193) etc. Such instructions can easily incite hatred and violence in the mind of a fanatic believer. Just as a parasite can hijack the brain of a grasshopper to promote suicidal behavior, certain texts of a holy book can influence a terrorist’s mind – as seen in the cases of Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis and Mohammad Atta – into blowing up the Federal Reserve building or World Trade Center through an insane sacrifice of the host’s life.

Fig: Just as a parasite can hijack the brain of a grasshopper to promote suicidal behavior, certain texts of a holy book can influence a terrorist’s mind – as seen into blowing up the World Trade Center through an insane sacrifice of the host’s life.

Of course I know, most of the Muslims are not terrorists, they are peaceful. The reason behind is, they do not follow Quran literally. As Taner Edis (author of An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam) pointed out in one of his essays, ‘Ordinary Muslims depend heavily on local religious scholars, Sufi orders and similar brotherhoods, … They hold Quran sacred, but their understanding of what Islam demands comes through local religious culture.’[25] The moderate Muslims are however, quite happy with these sorts of ‘religion of peace’ like statements from seasoned politicians. Osama Bin Laden, Anwar al‑Awlaki, Nidal Hasan, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS who follow the scripture literally are blamed for mass destruction while their cherished dogma remains unquestioned. Now, those who wish to be ‘factually correct’ rather than ‘politically correct’ will be outcast, physically threatened or even killed.

This is exactly what happened to Humayun Azad or Thaba Baba in Bangladesh, or very recently to Muhammad Shakil Auj, a Muslim scholar shot dead for ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan. As you know now, Farabi, the soldier of ‘peaceful Islam’ also issued ironic death threats for my writing of Biswasher Virus, though he confessed that it was not possible for him to kill me as I was residing in America. I found there was no difference between them and the ‘peaceful’ Muslim demonstrators in Britain who were photographed (after the Dutch-cartoon controversy) bearing banners that read, ‘Behead those who say Islam is a violent religion.’

Fig: A Real cartoon: The followers of ‘peaceful Islam’ has been photographed in Britain bearing banners that read ‘Slay those who insult Islam’, ‘Behead those who say Islam is a violent religion’ :)

While the term ‘the religion of peace’ gives me a belly-laugh nowadays, the terrorist- association of its followers never surprises me. It has been revealed that Farabi is linked to the radical Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and a terrorist organization, Hizbut Tahrir. Last year, Farabi threatened to kill a Muslim cleric officiated at the funeral of Ahmed Rajib Haider (the aforementioned freethinker who was hacked to death). Under tremendous public pressure, Farabi was arrested, but to everyone’s surprise, he was granted bail within few months. Since then, he has continued to threaten many progressives in Bangladesh; however, no official action has been taken against him.

The story doesn’t end there. Farabi also wrote a death threat to Rokomari.com (Bangladesh’s first online bookstore) and ordered the site to stop selling my books. In his Facebook post, Farabi specified the office address of Rokomari.com and called upon his “Islamist friends” to attack the adjacent locality. He also told the owner of Rokomari.com (Mahmudul Hasan Sohagh), that he would suffer the same fate as Ahmed Rajib Haider if he did not comply with Farabi’s demands. As a result, Rokomari took my books off its list. The news created a huge uproar, and the issue came to the attention of national media and beyond. Prominent online newspapers of Bangladesh (such as bdnews24.com, dhakatribune.com etc.) featured the news as a cover story; other international sites and newspapers (secularnews.org, freethinker.co.uk, ucanews.com and investigativeproject.org etc.) also reported the incident with due importance (see here, here, here, here or here)[26]. The government, however, was reluctant to take any action. Farabi was not arrested, nor did Rokomari apologize for its wrongdoings.

Regardless, many of my friends, readers, fans and well-wishers took the issue quite seriously. Numerous bloggers and writers protested by withdrawing their books from Rokomari, while others organized a campaign to boycott the company products. The situation drew continuous attention in news media, Facebook, Twitter, and other circles devoted to free speech and free thought. After two days, Rokomari issued a statement on its Facebook page saying, ‘Rokomari is an online bookstore that does not sell or distribute books that has been banned by state.’ Rokomari also mentioned that some vested groups are trying to tarnish its image and reputation. I found Rokomari’s statement to be rather amusing. It is important to note that nobody ever went to the court complaining about my book; furthermore, neither the state nor the government banned any of my books. Most of my writings deal with modern science and philosophy and include proper references to journals, newspapers, and other academic literature. Nevertheless, Rokomari withdrew my books from its site solely based on Farabi’s demand. Rokomari’s actions contradict the statement it issued (see here). The site coordinators could have simply said, “Look, since these books were not banned by the state, we can’t withdraw them without a proper investigation.” Or, they could have simply asked, “Where exactly is the objectionable material?” By getting rid of my books in a medieval fashion, Rokomari failed to conduct their business in a professional manner.

Well, I am still alive despite Farabi-threats– writing a blog remembering the Blasphemy day. My books are also going well; at least this is what I hear from my publishers. Apparently, readers did not need Rokomari to get my books. Within a few months of its appearance, Biswasher Virus is in 2nd edition. My previous book Obisshahser Dorshon (The Philosophy of Disbelief) which was coauthored with Raihan Abir, entered in its 3rd edition mark this year. There is nothing much to complain about life right now. But that is not the point I would like to make here.

The point being – during a total solar eclipse in 1919, Sir Arthur Eddington’s historical experiment paved the way to test Einstein’s theory over classical Newtonian physics. In a similar way, I think the publication of Biswasher Virus created grounds for testing the hypothesis if religious faith can and does act as a virus. The aftermath of the Rokomari-Farabi episode proved the hypothesis to be correct. If one thing is certain, it is that the virus of faith is dangerously real.

Dr. Avijit Roy is a Bangladeshi-American blogger, published author, and prominent defender of the free thought movement in Bangladesh. He is an engineer by profession, but well-known for his writings in his self-founded site, Mukto-Mona—an Internet congregation of freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists, and humanists of mainly Bengali and South Asian descent. As an advocate of atheism, science, and metaphysical naturalism, he has published eight Bangla books, and many of his articles have been published in magazines and journals. His last two books, Obisshahser Dorshon (The Philosophy of Disbelief) and Biswasher Virus (The Virus of Faith), have been critically well-received and are popular Bengali books on science, skepticism, and rationalism. He can be reached through twitter (@avijit_roy_MM) and Facebook.

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16 Comments

[…] One of Roy’s last blog posts, in English, written for Blasphemy Rights Day last September, summarised his book on the “virus of faith” and mentioned the importance of the international book fair, at which he would later be killed. Roy’s blog also covered the threats against himself and others. On Farabi Shafiur Rahman, one of those who had made public posts on social networks about his desire to see Roy killed, and who has since been arrested in connection with the murder, Roy wrote in September about how the authorities seemed reluctant to take any action against him: […]

Avi da wrote this in September 2014. He was rejoicing the fact that he was alive despite Farabi’s threats. How ironical, just within five months the same Farabi caused his death. This article captures the important series of events that unfolded following his death threat. At the same time, it once again proves what a brilliant writer he was and how much academic research and effort he used to put in his writing. Even analyzing his death threat from a logical point of view. Hats off to this guy!

Jiten Roy
September 29, 2014 at 8:49 pm

@Avijit Roy

The words – ‘think’ and ‘believe’ are used when we are not sure of something. But, ‘faith’ and ‘trust’ are much more fundamental properties of our beings. We can’t function without trust and faith. There are times when I get frustrated, because things happen even though it is not supposed to. So, I keep repeating it until I succeed. What drives me doing so is my faith in the process.

There was a time in my life when I used to ask myself – why I need to work so hard for everything, when many don’t need to. I could have given up in the face of failures, but I didn’t, because I knew – I was better equipped than many of those who succeeded before me. So, I kept going, until I succeeded. I call it a – ‘system failure.’ The prevailing system around us could fail or misjudge. But, those who have faith in their abilities do not give up so easily, but some may – due to lack of faith in themselves. Most successful business men succeeded in their ventures mostly due to faith in themselves and in their endeavors.

I can’t accept the premise that – ‘think’ or ‘believe’ can replace ‘faith’ or ‘trust’ in us, no matter who says it. I am saying this out of my own faith in my understanding of life.

By the way, I like Bill Mar for his straight talk, even though usually I differ with most of his views, but in this context he is right on.

so basically faith is a belief without evidence. So do we really need such faith/beleif?

Let me quote from an article –

Note that in most instances, one can replace the word “believe” with the word “think” or “use”. For example:

“I believe it will rain tonight.”

can transpose into:

“I think it will rain tonight.”

“We should believe a theory as long as the evidence supports a proposition.”

can transpose into:

“We should use a theory as long as the evidence supports a proposition.”

Most simple beliefs come from the expression of the experience of external events. From past experience, for example, people believe that dark clouds can produce rain, therefore, we attempt to predict the weather by forecasting from past events. However, to believe that an event will occur can produce disappointment if the prediction never happens. To make a prediction based on past events alone does not require believing in the future event, but rather, a good guess as to what may or may not happen. We can eliminate many of these simple beliefs by replacing the word “believe” with a word that directly addresses the object of our knowlege rather than the feelings or emotions of personal belief. The word “think” describes the mental process of predicting instead of relying on the abstraction of belief which reflects a hope which may not happen. And if we replaced Aristotelian either-or beliefs with statistical thinking we would reflect probable events instead of believed events.

@Avijit Roy,
I know, Avijit, you have used the term ‘Biswasher Virus,’ which, in my view, is a broad generalization of all ‘Biswash.’ I know you meant religious-biswasher virus. I do agree that religious faith spreads like a virus, so you have correctly termed it. But, my problem is that – not all faiths are viruses.

Faith is one of the basic characteristics of human being. We must have faith in ourselves to take any initiative. Some of our faith-based initiatives work; others don’t. When our faith works, we perpetuate it, others we discard. That’s how we move on, and progress. Unfortunately, that was not the case with the religious-faith. Religious faith is a fallacy, but not too many people can discard it. That’s our stupidity. The religious virus is spreading like an incurable virus.

one should remember – all religions are not the same; some are much more harmful than others. Islam is one such religion, which is driving million of people to the point of insanity.

What about the virus analogy? :) Think of it – Politicians, Scientists and researchers are spending billion of dollars to prevent deadly viruses like HIV, Ebola etc, compared to other viruses such as norovirus or rotavirus that cause Diarrhoea / Cholera etc. Not all viruses are equal and should not be treated equal. Some viruses are indeed lethal and worth fighting against those.

Yes, religions are like diseases, but not all religions are equally destructive or violent. Buddhism and Jainism, for example, are not as violent as Abrahamic religions, even though those dogmas are also outdated and unscienfic.

Lastly, I believe – publisher will never withdraw a best seller, unless they are forced to do so. So, I do not blame the publisher (Rakomari) so much for withdrawing his book. I know there is no one there in Bangladesh to protect them.

True, but a small correction. Rokomari is not a publisher – it is just an online bookstore for selling books online. Jagriti Prokashoni is the publisher of this particular book. They have no issues and they have been supportive to my stand all along. I must thank them for their immense courage.

Jiten Roy
September 25, 2014 at 9:06 pm

@Bijan Saha
I agree that expansionism is at the root of all mass killings. But, it will be wrong to lump all sort of killings in the same basket. Death and destruction in the name of installing democracy is a different issue than death and destruction in the name of installing autocracy.

Modern society has devised democracy as a panacea for the cure of many of our societal ills. It may not be perfect, but that’s the best system we have for the society. This is like a medication that heals certain illness. If you equate democratic expansionism with the expansionism of Nazism, it will be like blaming the medication for killing germs.

Also, expansionisms of Nazism and Communism killed millions in the past, but humanity has rejected them, and now they are gone; that’s a progress. But, that did not happen in case of religious expansionism, which has killed millions since the beginning, and humanity is nowhere near to denounce it. What we see, instead, is more polarization towards religion. Humanity is heading towards all out religious turf battle, which will go on until humanity gets fed up with religion, and we are nowhere near there.

It is indeed a shame that the US President and the British Prime Minister try to dissociate ISIS (also known as ISIL/Islamic state) from Islam. It is dangerously dishonest. They could have limited their political correctness to suggest that most Muslims do not subscribe ISIS’s idea of the state/world, which can be argued to be the fact.

You are brave. But I would certainly ask you not to plan visiting your beloved birthplace, Bangladesh, anytime soon. A lot of otherwise good free-thinking people keep their knowledge and understanding of Islam to themselves. For example, I keep harping on asking the Muslims to read their holy books with an open mind and use their common sense to judge what to follow and what to ignore/discard.

Obviously, it does not matter what the books have; what matters is what people actually follow. A lot of the illiterate people in our land of Bangladesh were good with no actual knowledge of their religion. The problem with contemporary Muslims is that too many of them, including the so-called educated ones, have a high propensity of trying to following their religion in its entirety.

Jiten Roy
September 25, 2014 at 6:37 am

Wow, another masterpiece from Dr. Avijit Roy!

Religion is the best form of brainwashing ever existed. It alters brain-function in most individuals. The effect of such brainwashing depends on individual’s extent of faith (Biswash) in religion. Most people do not know or understand why they do certain things in the name of religion; they just do things out of faith. These people are prone to faith-based reasoning. Everything they say or do is based on understanding of their religious views. These people, obviously, have poor logical ability. This observation leads me to believe that religious faith may impair one’s logical ability. Those who are too much into religion could become totally insane.

Having said that, I should also say that – one should remember – all religions are not the same; some are much more harmful than others. Islam is one such religion, which is driving million of people to the point of insanity.

Now, million dollar question is – how can we change the course of this doomsday journey? There is only one way to change the course, and that is – by denouncing the source (i.e., religion) that breeds this virus.

You said that – US President Obama wants to destroy victims of this virus, but not the source that breeds the virus. This is true throughout the world, which tells me that – this fight will go on forever.

Also, another point to remember is that – democratic system is a sanctuary for terrorists. In USA, law enforcement cannot nab someone for verbal threat alone, not even for a life-threatening risk, until the individual acts on it, which, in most cases, could be too late, when we are dealing with suicidal maniacs. Isn’t it too much of an exercise of the freedom of speech, which is giving terrorists license to preach their hateful messages openly? I am sure, this is where Bangladesh government perhaps taken shelter in letting the individual (Farabi), who threatened Avijit Roy’s life in writing, to go free. Modern society must revisit the definitions of freedom of speech and religion for the sake of the wellbeing of the humanity.

Lastly, I believe – publisher will never withdraw a best seller, unless they are forced to do so. So, I do not blame the publisher (Rakomari) so much for withdrawing his book. I know there is no one there in Bangladesh to protect them.

I could not agree more with the theme of your book (The virus of Faith) and I wholeheartedly congratulate you for taking the trouble to publish it, knowing very well the risk you are undertaking (remember Salman Rushdie!). I myself wrote a number of articles on religious bigotry, religious fanaticism etc and published them in bdnews24.com, opendemocracy.net etc. I had many abusing emails and threats. I had taken all of these insults in my stride and ignored them all. I hope you will ignore these bigots and carry on with your good work. Living in the West, we are out of reach of these mean-minded despicable bigots.

Well, it is NOT true that Nazi atrocity was entirely out of religion. Hitler was not an atheist, but a good Christian. We can quote from his speeches or his famous book Mein Kampf that he spoke, unashamedly, about God, fanaticism, idealism, dogma, and the power of propaganda. Hitler held strong faith in all his convictions. He justified his fight for the German people and against Jews by using Godly and Biblical reasoning. Indeed, one of his most revealing statements makes this quite clear:

“Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”

As evidence to his claimed Christianity, he said:

“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice… And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.

But what you say about political killing is more or less true. But please keep in mind that some of the political killing are also ideology-based (killing by Stalin, Polpot Mao etc.. based on Communist ideology) and can be considered as ‘virus’ for sure. Of course there are killings by Bush, Clinton et al to establish another ideology – ‘western democracy’ or supremacy or whatever you want to say. We are all aware of that. But at least we could have prevented numerous lives and sacrifices that ignited by religion throughout the history. We could have prevented those millions who were killed by the war between Catholic and Protestant. We could have saved thousands of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh who were targeted for being Hindu in riots, we could have prevented stoning to death for adultery or leaving religion. Human sacrifice to gratify goddess, Crusade, Jihad, Sati, witch-haunting etc. are entirely religious. Think of it how many people have been killed by those nonsensical massacre. I will recommend two good books for the readers on this :

1. Holy Horrors: An Illustrated History of Religious Murder and Madness, by James A. Haught, Prometheus Books, 1990
and
2. Human Sacrifice–In History and Today, by Nigel Davies, William Morrow & Co; 1981

Interesting article, but in my view it is partially true. The virus of killing is inherent to human nature. Mankind is far older than religion, and instinct of killing others (those who are different for this or that reason). If not religion, some other issues will come. In the name of equality many were killed. The struggle for socialism took a lot of lives. Nazis didn’t kill millions only for their religious background. Today’s drive for democracy by Bush or Obama killed and is still killings thousands across the glove. Why? It is only because a group thinks them exclusive, better than the rest. I always tell my kids, you can add an apple and a banana. The result will always be an apple and a banana. Each has their specific identity and property. Unless we, especially so-called civilized world, understand this simple truth and refrain from imposing our way of live to others, it will happen forever. Some will cut throat, others will fire or bury you with democratic bombs. I don’t know if it matters how someone will be killed – by beheading or sitting on electric chair. These things matters for those who were left behind, but for those who are killed it is all the same. So we should talk about not only about virus of religion, but also about virus of democracy, supremacy etc.

It is quite frustrating when you see so-called moderate muslims (or even other religious folks) are defending this viral affect saying, “Well, they don’t represent peaceful Islam. You can’t assess the role of religion merely based on them”. Ok, fine, I agree. But dears, have you ever protested their act coming on the street, or even raised your voice publicly in blogs or your facebook statuses or notes against the brutality of “uncharacteristic followers of Isalm”? I never saw this.

When Gaza is affected, this kind of people change their profile pictures hanging the banner written how you need not to be “believer” to support the cause of Gaza. At the same time, they ignore what ISIS is doing in Iraq. That’s funny. Those who are moderate muslims are seasonal humanist. They become humanitarian only if muslims are affected by non-muslims. What cause this happen is clear. Long-held blind belief make them act like one-eyed monster. All their logic breaks down when it come to the religion. Familial and social indoctrination of religion delimits the breadth of thought and logic.

Even more frustrating is the act of state. Being so-called democratic, it acts for enhancing blindness. Religious institutions, especially in the under-developed countries, are increasing exponentially, so is ignorance. Bangladeshi people have forgot what they fought for in 1971.

The folly is returning riding on the back of religion. In 1971, Pakistan and religion both were our enemies, but at the moment, religion has taken the sole responsibility of enmity. Paradoxically, both state and mass people are embracing that enemy which is fixing our fate as a fall-behind country. Cultivation of religious opium, superstition and ignorance by the state authority is destroying what we have earned so far as an independent and democratic nation. The situation reminds me of Carl. To quote from him, “The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin to stir.”

Yes, demons (Farabi-like people) have already begun to stir. They are making the seekers of truth suffocate and abolish. This is not only a disservice to a group of non-believers, but also to humanity. It is high time aware people came forward and do something.

Thank you Avijit da for your excellent entry. Symphony of science and logic be orchestrate through your pen for years to come.

Muktar Ahmed Mukul
September 24, 2014 at 4:37 pm

Farabi is either a semiliterate Kath Mulla or a brain dead person. Farabi needs Gonodholai to become a human being.